


mirrorball (shining just for you)

by reylo_mo (writermo)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fae Ben, Fae Class Systems, Faeries - Freeform, Fairies, Fairy Rey, Fairyland, High Fae/Lesser Fae, I probably stole a tonne of fairy concepts from existing fantasy literature, Librarian Ben Solo, Libraries, Library, Magic, fae, faerieland, nothing about this is based on in-depth folklore research, spells
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25651936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writermo/pseuds/reylo_mo
Summary: He's a lonely high fae with mortal blood, she's a lesser fairy with unheard-of high fae powers.They meet at the New York Public Library.A tale of two souls tired of shining for a world where they don't belong who come to find their reflections in each other instead. Inspired by Taylor Swift's mirrorball from folklore.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21
Collections: Reylo Folklore Flash Fic





	mirrorball (shining just for you)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the #reylofolkloreflashfic event, based on the song mirrorball from the album.

Faeries liked to visit the mortal world. 

On solstice and equinox nights, when the fabric between the magic and mortal realms was at its thinnest, many of the fair folk enjoyed slipping into the world of men for a laugh. It was a favoured form of entertainment for lesser fairies in particular, with the noble class of high fae usually considering such antics beneath them. The common fae, unseen to mortal eyes, popped up in the human world to cause some mischief here, wreck some havoc there – and then they went back to faerieland. This was normal behaviour. 

What  _ wasn't  _ normal was for a lesser fairy using a high-magic glamour to stroll onto the third floor of the New York Public Library in broad daylight, pull a book from a shelf with practised ease, and plop herself down in a comfy chair in a corner to start reading it. 

In his three hundred years of being alive, living either in the land of the fae or the land of the mortals, Benjamin Solo had never felt quite so surprised before. 

His first instinct was just to leave the fae alone. Ben had been masquerading as an ordinary man in the mortal world for decades now, and he really didn't need anyone from faerieland discovering this and disturbing his peace. Even if the someone in question  _ was  _ a lesser fairy, and Ben Organa-Solo had the blood of the high fae in his veins. 

But while Ben was so  _ certain  _ that the creature he was staring at was a lesser fairy – she certainly didn't  _ look  _ high fae – there was no denying that she was using high fae magic. Her glamour was impressive, easily tricking the human eye to see pale instead of green skin, perceive a fuller body and height that she didn't actually have, and ignore her shimmering mauve wings; she'd even gotten the clothing right, layering on a hoodie and jeans to hide the second-skin greenish-brown dress she was actually clad in.

None of it made sense. Unlike high fae, lesser fairies were usually invisible to humans to start with, meaning that they never had a reason to use a glamour around them. And of course –  _ lesser fae couldn't cast glamours.  _

No, he was going to have to go over there. 

And so Ben left his librarian's desk, walked over to the armchair in the corner, and stood over the reading fairy, trusting that the shadow he was casting over her book would prompt her into looking up sooner than a verbal greeting would. 

Indeed, her head snapped up immediately, and Ben was distracted for a moment to see the raw beauty her true form held under her glamour. Like all fae, her features were all small and pointed and angular, but there was a softness in her appearance that was apparent even with the annoyance clear in her face. The green-hued skin that marked her as a wood fairy was sprinkled with freckles across her face, her iridescent wings were tucked just a little too close to her body, instead of the brazen way most fae liked to spread them out, and her bright hazel eyes looked a tad too trusting to be sharp.

Ben realised he was holding his breath, waiting so that he could hear her voice to round out the picture he was building of her. 

But she didn't speak. Instead, she just shot him an irate glare, waved a hand at him as her lips mouthed a silent command, and bent her head back down to her book.

So she was a lesser fairie who could use a glamour  _ and  _ knew words of command. 

Ben cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that's not going to help you," he murmured, speaking fae. 

The faerie froze then. Slowly, very slowly, she looked back up at him. Finally seemed to realise that he was not, in fact, a mortal. And that high fae were the only ones who looked like humans and were immune to words of command. 

Ben realised what it was she was going to do a second too late. "No, don't – " he began.

She vanished into thin air. 

***

Ben threw a net of power over the library after that day, determined to catch the fairy the next time she returned. He spent an entire night working on the spell, intent on making it undetectable to any but himself, so that his target wouldn’t know he was trying to track her presence.

Perhaps it was wishful thinking to think she’d be back again, but Ben had seen the way she’d headed straight for the bookshelves with such single-minded intensity. It was a mirror of how he felt about books himself, which explained why the New York Public Library had a member of the fae on their payroll. 

And sure enough, not even a week later, he felt a tug at his web of magic, indicating that someone who was wearing a glamour had indeed walked right into it. Idly, he threw a tendril of power over the intruder, got up from where he was stacking books in the IT section, and followed his thread to where his intended target was nestled within General Fiction on the third floor. 

Ben took a moment to take in the sight of her before he went up to approach her. She was wearing the same little green dress as she had last week – lesser fae were not known for their extensive wardrobes – and her hair was in the same three buns. Her legs were curled up and tucked beneath her, wings squished almost out of sight, her brow furrowed as she turned the page of her book. It was odd. Odd, that it had been  _ so  _ long since Ben had seen one of his own kind from the realm where he belonged, and that he would find her here, in his particular corner of the mortal world. 

He stepped towards her. “Fae literature not up your alley?”

She started, those bright eyes of hers widening as they darted up towards him, and for a second he thought that she was going to disappear again – but then her eyes narrowed, and he  _ saw  _ the moment she decided to stay and stand her ground. Her mouth made a straight, firm line, and she cast her gaze back down to her book, pointedly ignoring him. But then he heard her voice for the first time. 

“I don’t know how removed you are from faerieland now, bookkeeper, but woodland faeries don’t exactly have access to the high fae’s literary archives.” Her tone was cold, and removed to the point of scathing, but it didn’t disguise the fact that she had a lovely voice; somehow both tinkling and rustling at the same time, the fae quality to it conjuring up pictures in Ben’s mind of rain drops on green, green forest leaves.

“Possibly,” murmured Ben, leaning against the wall next to her chair to look at her sidelong. “You may not look high fae, but you have our powers.”

She shut her book with a snap and glared at him, the angry words coming out in a rushed whisper. “And you may have based yourself here, bookkeeper, deep in the glamour of a mortal, but – ” 

“It’s not a glamour,” Ben interrupted her. High fae looked more like mortals than lesser fae did – something to do with the lack of wings – but they still had a distinctive look to them; high cheekbones, the sharp, symmetrical face lines typical to the fae, and a glimmering sheen to their flawless skins. Ben was large and hulking, taking up more space than he knew what to do with, with a too-large nose, irregular features, and dull pale skin littered with moles. “My father was a mortal.”

He saw her lips react, half-way forming a little  _ o  _ of surprise, but she rallied at the last moment. “You still speak like high fae,” she said stiffly, looking away from him abruptly. “You talk like you are used to being obeyed. You are condescending.”

Ben straightened, moving away from the wall. “What if I said something a bit more mortal-world instead?” 

Her eyes slid slowly back to his face in askance. 

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

**Author's Note:**

> In hindsight, the concept I went with probably would have worked better with a non-flashfic work, but I wouldn't have thought about it if I didn't participate in this awesome one-week event with awesome people, and in the end I went with my gut and followed this story anyway. I have plans to expand on this fic as soon as, but for now I hope you enjoyed this meeting of Fae Ben and Fairy Rey and the start of something new between them.


End file.
